


A blast from the past

by IaMcHrIsSi



Series: Batfam Week 2018 [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Robin!Dick is adorable, Steph accidentally travels to the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 15:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15537792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IaMcHrIsSi/pseuds/IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: Steph meets Robin!Dick. She thinks he's adorable, he's confused. A normal day in Gotham.





	A blast from the past

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Batfam Week 2018, prompt: Time travel
> 
> I hope this is okay, time travel is really not a genre I usually write about...

Steph's not sure how it happens. One second, she is trying on her old Spoiler costume, just to see if it still fits, the next she's one a rooftop in Gotham, at night. She's pretty sure it was just morning just a second ago.

She's also pretty sure something is wrong pretty much immediately, because she's staring at an apartment tower she's never seen before. And she knows Gotham by night. She's not Batgirl for nothing.

But before she can think of anything else, three thugs attack her from nowhere. She must have landed right in the middle of them, for some reason, but there's no time to ponder that.

The first one goes after her with a tire iron. She ducks and knees him in the groin, before turning and punching the second goon in the solar plexus. As he staggers away, she kicks the third in the knee and finishes with a nice blow to the head.

By that time, the first goon has somewhat caught his breath, but he's slow, so Steph just kicks him in the head and then uses her elbow to knock out number two.

It didn't even take a minute, and Steph has to say she's kind of proud of herself. Nice take down, no trouble. Always a good feeling.

Carefully, she tries to take stock of the situation. She's definitively in Gotham, she can see the Wayne Tower and several other landmarks that she works on and around every single night. There are a few buildings she doesn't know, though, and a few missing.

Weird training situation? Possible, and wouldn't be the first time, honestly. But Batman promised her that he'd warn her of them after the last time. Not that that means this can't be a simulation, because Batman is an asshole sometimes, but she likes to think her rant made enough of an impact that she has at least a few weeks more reprieve from being kidnapped to do stupid training parcours for him.

And really, unless there is something huge she missed, the training simulation should have ended when she put the last goon to the ground. No point letting her stay in a simulation when the training situation is over.

Dream? Always a possibility, but her dreams aren't usually this vivid. And really, if this is a dream, and she's not waking up, she might as well explore.

Alternate reality? Way weirder, and less probably, but well, she's running around with the bats. Stranger things have happened.

Problem is that none of that is helpful. There doesn't seem to be a direct way of just going back home and having that ice cream she promised herself, so she decides to play along.

At least she's wearing the good Spoiler suit, the one that has Bruce's approval and is protective, warm and comes with an utility belt full of useful things.

“Are you going to do anything?” A high voice suddenly asks from behind her. Steph curses and turns, only to find... Robin?

The colorful dress is unmistakable, nobody else wears that kind of bright monstrosity. But that is not Damian. Damian's voice is not that high, and Damian would never go out in a Robin costume without the Hood. He also wouldn't look this genuily friendly.

“Don't know.” Steph finally says, cursing her slow mind. The kid is obviously not really satisfied with that answer. “What am I supposed to do?” She asks.

“I don't know. You're look kind of as though you are a super villain, and there's unconscious men there, but you aren't doing anything. That's weird. You also don't try to attack me or anything, which is nice, but still weird. And those men look like Riddler's goons, but I don't know of any other vigilantes in the city. Who are you?” The kid says, and then he smiles, and...

Dick. That's Dick. As a kid. Back when he was Robin. Some fifteen years ago. Steph swallows some truly impressive curses and really looks at the kid. No doubt about it. That is Richard Grayson, approximately 10 years old, wearing the original Robin costume.

God, she hopes this is a dream. Or a simulation. She doesn't know if she can deal with actually having time travelled.

“Hey, you okay?” Kid-Dick asks, sounding kind of concerned, but not in the big brother way she's used to. Which makes sense, Steph supposes. This Dick isn't a big brother yet. This Dick is a little boy himself.

“A bit confused. I don't exactly know how I ended up here.” Steph finally says. The Dick she knows is scary good at telling when she's lying, and she's not sure about this tiny version of him, but she's not risking it.

“How can you not know how you ended up here? Where you like, kidnapped or something?” Kid-Dick asks, and … well, it's not the worst theory.

“Don't know. Possibly.” Steph says, and then she has to stop herself from cooing when Kid-Dick puts on an adorable thinking face. She kind of wants to pinch his cheeks, it's that cute.

She restrains herself, of course. Fellow Robin empathy and all that. But still.

“I could take you to Batman, if you want. He's an awesome detective, he'll be able to figure out something.” He says, finally, and Steph almost grimaces. Yes, Bruce can probably figure something out. But she does not fancy explaining her situation to Bruce in any circumstances, and especially not when he doesn't even know who she is. On the other hand, it's not like she's got a better idea.

“Sure.” She tells Kid-Dick, and watches as his shoulders sag in … relief? Why should he be relieved that she'd accepted to go to Batman? The Dick she knows prefers to solve his problems without involving the big guy.

“Batman is like, really strong, you know. And intelligent. Like amazingly intelligent. And strong.” The kid tells her, moving to stand next to her and suddenly, looking down on this tiny kid that will someday be taller than her, something clicks in her mind. This is not Adult-Dick, who is a cop and a big brother and who can take care of himself. This is a ten year old kid. And Steph is almost twice his age. If Steph were not a friendly, Kid-Dick would probably not be able to stop her from attacking him.

Of course he wants Batman. Steph remembers being Robin, and the feeling of unconditional safety Batman could give her. Why would it have been different for Dick?

She'd always known that Dick had been a Robin, the first Robin, but... somehow, she'd never thought that thought to it's logical conclusion. Dick is always the grown one to her, the adult who can handle his own shit without Batman's intervention, the only one of them to truly not need Batman. Somehow, she hadn't realized that that hadn't always been the case.

“I believe it.” She tells the kid, trying to make herself somewhat smaller. She doesn't want to scare tiny Dick. But it's so weird.

“You don't have to be afraid of him.” Kid-Dick tells her, moving closer as if to tell her a secret. “He looks super scary, but he's really nice.”

Steph almost snorts. Yeah. Batman. Nice. But maybe he used to be. Before Jason's death. Or maybe that's just for Dick, the tiny version.

Before she can say anything, a swirly... portal? appears before them. At this point Steph is kind of ready to sit down and stop moving until the universe stops throwing shit like this at her, but Robin seems intrigued, and as his momentary elder, it's probably her duty to stop him from getting sucked into that thing. Or attacked by whoever might come out.

She steps in front of him, ignoring his indignant “Hey!”.

Then Tim steps out of the portal, because of course he does. He looks like he hasn't slept in days, which, knowing him, he probably hasn't, but he also looks happy to see her, so there's that.

“There you are! We were worried.” He says, apparently not seeing Kid-Dick.

“Who's we, and where am I?” Steph asks, very much aware of the tiny, curious, 10 year old version of Dick currently standing behind her.

“Everyone who's in town, so everyone except B, Cass and Babs, and you are exactly 15 years and three months in the past. Wow does Gotham look different.” Tim's says, and then he notices Dick, and his eyes go wide.

“We should go.” Steph decides, before Tim gets any ideas. Or they change the past in any way more than she might already have. She turns to Kid-Dick.

“Looks like my ride is here. Take care, kid.” And then, because she can't stop herself, she runs her hand over his hair. Then she takes Tim's hand and drags him through the portal.

On the other side, Dick, Jason, Duke, Damian and Alfred are waiting. They do indeed look worried. There's some kind of … apparatus standing there, which apparently they came through, but Steph is so not looking at that. She looks at Dick.

“You were a cute ten year old, you know that?”

**Author's Note:**

> And from that day on, Steph teases Dick about how cute he was as a Robin...


End file.
